1.
0 TITLE
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)
2.0 OBJECTIVE
To investigate the defects and quality of welding bead due to changes in welding such as
voltage (V), current (A), and welding speed (m/min)
3.0 INTRODUCTION
Welding basically were classified into 2 categories which are fusion welding and solid state
welding. Fusion welding is accomplished by melting the two parts to be joined, in some cases
adding filler metal to the joint such as arc welding, resistance spot welding, oxyfuel gas
welding. Solid state welding is defined when heat or pressure are being used to achieve
coalescene, but no melting of base metals occurs and no filler metal is added. Gas metal arc
welding (GMAW) or Metal Inert Gas (MIG) are be classified into fusion welding.
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) uses a consumable bare metal wire as electrode with
shielding by flooding arc with a gas. Wire is fed continuously and automatically from a spool
through the welding gun. Shielding gases include argon and helium for aluminum welding,
and CO2 for steel welding. Bare electrode wire plus shielding gases eliminate slag on weld
bead and no need for manual grinding and cleaning of slag.
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), sometimes referred to by its subtypes Metal Inert Gas
(MIG) welding or Metal Active Gas (MAG) welding, is a semi-automatic or automatic arc
welding process in which a continuous filler wire and a shielding gas are fed through a welding
gun. A constant voltage type of power source is most commonly used with GMAW. Welding
can be done either using direct current or alternative current welding machine. There are four
primary methods of metal transfer in GMAW, called short-circuiting, globular spray and
pulsed-spray, each of which has distinct properties and corresponding advantages and
limitations.
Figure 3.1 Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)
4.0 APPARATUS
In this experiment several apparatus and equipment were used such as:
Figure 1: Pressure Regulator Figure 2: Gas welding
and Two stage oxygen machine
regulator
Figure 3: Plier Figure 4: Chipping Figure 5: Wire
Hammer Brush
Figure 6: Welding Figure 7: Semi automatic
helmet welding machine
5.0 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
1. The power supply are switched on.
2. Twist the main valve on the shielding gas supply to ensure the delivery of a shielding gas
to the arc.
3. The flow rate of the gas is adjusted in the range 15 to 20 L/min on the shielding gas
regulator.
4. The current ratio and the speed of wire drive moved are set according to requirement needs.
5. The tip of the welding torch are dipped in the spatter dipping to avoid spattering when
welding.
6. The trigger switch are pressed to drive the wire electrode out.
7. A cutter are used to cut the excessive wire to ensure the length is right.
8. The welding torch are moved closer to the thin plate of mild steel before welding process
started.
9. All safety equipment are worn before starting the welding process.
10. Step 1 to 7 are repeated when using the automatic welding machine.
11. The height of the welding torch tip to the thin plate are adjusted using the y-axis switch on
the machine.
12. The movement speed of the machine can be in auto mode or manual mode.
13. The distance of the starting point to be welded are adjusted using the x-axis switch before
starting the welding process.
14. If using auto mode, make sure that the machine are locked from moving freely before
starting to weld using auto mode.
15. The trigger are pressed and then the movement switch is on to enable the machine moved.
16. The trigger are switch off at the end of the welding thin plate before the movement switch
of the machine are off.
17. The result are taken and recorded.
6.0 RESULT
PLATE 1
No. Wire speed Voltage (V) Polarity Defects
(m/min)
1. 5 9 2 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Incomplete fusion
- Poor cap profile
- Arc strike
- Crater pipe
2. 6 2 3 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Incomplete fusion
- Arc strike
3. 11 6 3 - Porosity
- Gas cavity
- Spatter
- Crater pipe
- Excessive reinforcement
4. 15 9 3 - Spatter
- Crater pipe
- Excessive reinforcement
PLATE 2
No. Wire speed Voltage (V) Polarity Defects
(m/min)
1. 6 3 3 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Gas cavity
- Arc strike
- Incomplete fusion
- Overlap
2. 10 4 3 - Porosity
- Spatter
3. 13 6 3 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Excessive reinforcement
- Crater pipe
4. 17 9 4 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Excessive reinforcement
PLATE 3
No. Wire speed Voltage (V) Polarity Defects
(m/min)
1. 6 5 3 - Spatter
- Incomplete fusion
- Arc strike
2. 12 8 3 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Arc strike
- Excessive reinforcement
3. 11 9 3 - Spatter
- Crater pipe
- Arc strike
4. 8 1 3.5 - No defects
PLATE 4
No. Wire speed Voltage Polarity Defects
(m/min) (V)
1. 7 5 3 - Spatter
- Excessive reinforcement
2. 10 9 3 - Spatter
- Crater pipe
3. 9 6 3 - Spatter
- Crater pipe
4. 8 1 3.5 - Porosity
- Spatter
- Incomplete fusion
- Excessive reinforcement
7.0 DISCUSSION
This experiment or lab were conducted based on the objective that stated to investigate the
defects and quality of welding bead due to changes in welding such as voltage (V), current (A),
and welding speed (m/min). In this lab, students were provided with 4 plate per person and conduct
the welding process on that plate with four straight lines. Every lines have been set into difference
reading of voltage (V), current (A), welding speed (m/min). From that, it shows differences in
welding profiles between each lines. It may be occur because of several factor that happen during
the lab or experiment. This factor can effects the welding to be failed or caused many defects.
Usually in industry, the percentage of defects must be in lowest percentage to ensure the product
that been produced in good condition and satisfy the users.
Figure 7.1 Sample 1
From the figure 7.1 shows the welding profile of sample 1 using differences reading of
voltage (V), current (A), and welding speed (m/min). Sample 1 shows from line 1-4 (top to bottom)
different welding profiles that occur on the plate during the welding process. Line 1 was been
produced by using 5 m/min of welding speed, 9 V of voltage and 2A of current. The welding
profile looks small because of rate of welding speed not suitable with speed of hand movement
during the welding process. This shows that the speed of hand movement are too slow and its
called as incomplete fusion. The weld bead in which fusion has not occurred throughout entire
straight line and its same goes to line 2 and 3. At line 4, it has been using 15 m/min of welding
speed, 9 V of voltage and 3 A of current. It shows some different from the other lines because its
does not shows incomplete fusion but the weld bead seems not consistent may be because of hand
movement too fast. Besides on the plate also shows some spatter or flux that happen during the
welding processes.
Figure 7.2 Sample 2
From the figure 7.2 shows the welding profile of sample 2 using differences reading of
voltage (V), current (A), and welding speed (m/min). Sample 2 shows from line 1-4 (top to bottom)
different welding profiles that occur on the plate during the welding process. Line 1 has been
produced by using 7 m/min of welding speed, 5 V of voltage, 3 A of current. Line 1-3 has shown
quite similar of welding profile but has some different size and thickness of weld bead because of
speed of hand movement during the welding processes. For line 4, the process has been used by
semi auto machines that provide the welding torch to moves linear in straight lines and it will
produces good straight lines. It will moves follow with the welding speed that has been set.
8.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it can be concluded that gas metal arc welding (GMAW) has its own
advantages such as, Better arc time because of continuous wire electrode and the used of electrode
filler metal compared to shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) because sticks must be periodically
changed and end of stick cannot be used. Other than that, the weld profile created must be in a
good condition and having no defect present such as porosity, spatter, silica inclusion and crack.
This is because if the defect are present after weld, it can cause a serious defect because it is a
discontinuity in the metal that significantly reduces strength. Therefore, the defect must be
repaired. Besides that, the selection of the current ratio and the wire feed speed are important in
order to obtain a good weld profile when welding. Lastly, the safety steps and precautions during
and after doing the welding process must be followed to avoid any injuries and as we know that
safety comes first when handling with dangerous tools.
9.0 RECOMMENDATION
To help increase the efficiency of this experiment, the following recommendations are
proposed. The recommendation can be categorized for student and faculty. For student, the first
one is about the quality of welding. This experiment’s objective is to investigate the defects of the
welding bead but if the student can get the opportunity to do more practice and get the neat welding
are better because student can differentiate the result of defect and the good one. Next, student
need to focus more to do the project and focus rather than talk too much with friends because
incident can happen anytime and we need to extra careful. For faculty, the first one is about the
quantity and quality of the apparatus. Many amount of welding helmet that been place inside the
cupboard but not all of it in good condition. Lack of apparatus are the main recommendation that
faculty can take it seriously. Last recommendation is technician need to always observe when
student do their welding because incident might happen and always wear proper safety suit same
as student in the workshop.
10.0 REFERENCES
1. Bohnart, E.R. (2012). Welding: principles and practices. McGraw-Hill.
2. Gourd, L. M. (1986). Principles of welding technology. London: Edward Arnold.
3. Olson, D. L. (Ed.). (1993). ASM handbook: welding, brazing, and soldering (vol. 6). Asm Intl.
4. Lecture manufacturing process notes, Dr Juri Saedon, UiTM Shah Alam.
